COFLT

I went to my first ever Teacher's conference this weekend, in pdx. The Confederation of Oregon Foreign Language Teachers met up with its Washington counterpart for a conference on Friday and Saturday, so I went to meet some people in the field.

First, I looked up and there, across the lobby, was my high school Japanese teacher! So I had to go give her a hug, and catch up. It wasn't surprising per se, as she is obviously a language teacher in this state, but I just hadn't thought about it.

At lunch, I saw my Japanese teacher from my undergrad days. Small world, right?

That afternoon, while browsing the tables set up with book vendors, etc, I looked up, and saw Shizuka. She and I went to Portland State together years ago, and were close until she moved and I didn't have her new number, about 5 years ago. I tried looking her up, to no avail, but always thought about her.

Well, it turns out she's a Japanese teacher in Washington now! I had no idea she was even going into teaching. So we had our own little reunion there at the conference, and I am just tickled pink! I'm already planning to spend a day shopping with her at x-mas.

I also got some fried crickets from one of the tables, because some of the boys in class had been declaring how they would try ants and grasshoppers etc last week when we were talking about ethnic foods last week. They are so gross to even look at. I bought the box that was "cheese and bacon" flavored. I assume that the flavoring is supposed to make them taste better, bomehow, that makes it even more revolting to me...

And today, I actually managed to get a lot of homework done, so I feel pretty productive! All in all, a good weekend.